demian
pankratov
Demian Pankratov is an adventurous and scientific-minded youth interested in transforming the future of urban living. Born in 2007 in Moscow, Russia, he only went to kindergarten for one or two months as his family was constantly on the move around Europe. He is a big fan of football, karate and dancing clubs, and he speaks in both Russian and English.
The Story
When he was just seven years old, he went to school learning his first foreign language. Even when young, he quite enjoyed studying and was a straight-A student. After first grade, he had to change to another language school, where he started to learn German. Outside of his academics, he also enrolled in two sports academies. In one of them, he trained his skills in judo and in the other, he perfected his swimming strokes. To further address his other interests, he also continued to go to a choreographic ensemble, participated in chess competitions, and started to play piano.
From fifth grade onwards, he changed classes in the same school to a better one, where he got the opportunity to participate in multiple competitions and won some of them. The areas of mathematics, physics and biology at the current school could be more well-taught, but it did not inhibit Demian from being interested in them.
When he entered seventh grade, there was an opportunity to change his current school to one of the best in Russia. Demain seized the opportunity and enrolled in a high-level biomedical class. Studying in this new environment started requiring more time, and to stay committed to activities such as swimming and judo, he had to commute using a bicycle due to the location of the new school. However, all is worth it because the level of all sciences being taught in the new school was way higher than the previous one, and he indulged in homework, self education or music.
In the following two years, there was a noticeable increase in educational content and knowledge in the areas of physics, chemistry and mathematics. At this moment Demian started to have a hunch that this field might be his future. During ninth grade, he was accepted to the Moscow national olympiad team in chemistry and physics, in the same year, he won some of the most prestigious olympiades in chemistry, physics and biology. He managed to dedicate whatever free time he had towards endurance cycling or conducting experiments in sciences, while picking up skiing as another sport. In tenth grade, Demian started to study in an international school at the same time as he was studying in a Moscow school. He also organized a charity cross-country race titled VPL Bike Rice.
Looking ahead, Demians aims to focus on applying his knowledge and skills in the areas of STEM to develop smarter and more sustainable cities.